Bowls, jugs, mugs, plates, and cups, so many cups. These are not the wares of a kitchen cupboard, but the laurels of the champion. Around the world, athletic organizations crown their victors with so many gold and silver trophies that would fit quite snuggly in a fancy table setting. What is it about drinking vessels in particular that make them suitable as trophies?
While not an actual trophy, the winner of Nascar’s most coveted title, the Indianapolis 500, chugs a glass of milk. The tradition started in 1936 when the winner Louis Meyer drank buttermilk on the podium. After World War II the dairy industry doubled-down and offered $400 to the winner. On other roads, F1 drivers have traditionally celebrated with champagne–the same bubbly stuff that drenches the locker rooms of World Series winners in baseball. American football players drench the winning coach in an icy torrent of blue Gatorade. These drinks themselves are rites of passage for champions.
Forget the liquid within the bottle, athletic achievement has come to be marked by drinking vessels alone. The ubiquitous cup explains it all. Ancient Greeks awarded the winners of drama festivals and drinking competitions at their notorious symposia with cups propped on Dionysian tripods, and sometimes wine skins as well. These bronze or metal tripods were used in sacrifices as seats or tables, but likely originated from tripods upon which pots were placed over fires for cooking.
The tradition of award-giving survived in institutions of high culture for activities such as music, writing, or architecture and were common by the end of the Renaissance. (English) As athletics became organized in the mid-19th century, conspicuously luxurious housewares emerged as suitable awards for victors. At first, anything made by the local silversmith would do: candlesticks, jugs, salt cellars. Simon Reed, in his book Wassailing, writes of the ancient Anglo-Saxon toasting tradition, “Looking at the more ornate Loving Cup designs, we can quite clearly see that they have been the inspiration of the modern trophy associated with sporting events.” Above all else, the cup became synonymous with athletic prowess.
The World Cup (football), Ryder Cup (golf), America’s Cup (yachting), Webb Ellis Cup (rugby), ICC Cricket World Cup, Mushroom Cup (Mario Kart), among many others all reference this most fundamental drinking implement. Where cups are lacking, other tablewares greet champions at the end of competition including the Superbowl, Preakness Stakes’ Woodlawn Vase, and Ashes Urn (actually a perfume bottle filled with the metaphorical ashes of English cricket.)
Today, some of the oldest existing trophies owe their form to the early era of modern athletics.
The Claret Jug, really the Golf Champion Trophy, is awarded to the victorious golfer at the British Open. On par with the most coveted trophies in all athleticism, the prize is in the shape of a decanter for claret. The French red wine was extremely popular in the 19th century.
In 1872, three golf clubs, Prestwick, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, all pitched in £10 to buy the new trophy. The old trophy, a belt, had been given to a three-time champion, so they turned their attention to the silversmithing firm, Mackay Cunningham & Company of Edinburgh who Sotheby’s says were active from 1824 – 1912.
Plate, the general term for housewares made out of precious medals, happened to be very suitable as prizes. In this regard, the correlation between drinking and trophies is rather obvious. The same guys who made cups, plates, spoons, tea sets, even inkstands were also crafting the earliest trophies. The materials we make fancy cups out of happen to match the occasion of athletic achievement. From the bronze of ancient Greek tripods, to the silver and gold of today’s many world cups, the metalsmith finds a clientele in both the kitchen and locker room.
The Claret Jug may be famous today, but it was not unique during its early years. The 19th century golf clubs of Edinburgh may have taken their queues from the three that founded the Golf Championship. In 1873, East Lothian club gave a claret jug to its champion and presented the club secretary with silver salt cellars. (Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle, no. 2,768, 19 July 1873) Mortonhall Club gave its 1895 champion a medal, but runners up received silver candlesticks, claret jugs, and golf balls. (Edinburgh Evening News, 5 Oct. 1895) The practice may have been common in Scotland as early as 1836 when a newspaper announcement describes the Perthshire Agricultural Association honoring its secretary with a claret jug. (Caledonian Mercury, 3 Dec. 1836)
The DFB-Pokal is the second most prestigious football tournament in Germany behind the Bundesliga championship. The winner is awarded the cup, more literally the pokal. German footballers have been playing for this prize since 1935.
Pokal can mean cup in German and Swedish, but the particular vessel traditionally served Germans as a communal drinking vat, almost a punch bowl for beer. During banquets, toasts might be given and the bowl passed around for guests to drink together. Its common use died off during the 19th century, but it became a prize at the turn of the 20th century.
The use of pokal in the sense of a trophy or tournament predates the establishment of the DFB-Pokal tournament. In reality, it is likely the Germanization of the English use of the term cup for both competition and trophy.
Newspapers cite various occasions upon which a pokal might be awarded in both German and foreign contexts. Some American competitions in the early 1900s gave out pokals. German texts discuss pokals in football tournaments, and one Namibian paper notes the absence of a pokal award for an ostrich feather contest. (Sudwest, 19 June 1914) The newsworthiness of the absence in a far off colony like Namibia would underscore how common the practice was to award one.
The America’s Cup claims to be the oldest continually operating competition in any sport. Sailors have been competing for the cup since 1851 when a yacht by the name of America won the competition and lent its name to yachting’s prestigious prize. (Paterson) The American yachting team would go on to win the cup 132 years in a row.
The America’s Cup itself is a gorgeous silver ewer smithed in 1851 and added to with silver tiers in both 1958 and 1992 to accommodate the engraving of new winners. At the end of the 1800s, a Scotsman prominent in the world of drinking, Sir Thomas Lipton of Lipton Tea, is said to have nicknamed the trophy the “Auld Mug.” (Paterson) Lipton would go on to become one of the first sponsors of athletic sports in history and would profit handsomely on his association with the yachting competition. A protester took a hammer to the antique mug in 1997.
A survey of other competitions shows drinking can be found in undeserving places. The Stanley Cup trophy is likely a 19th century vase used for holding cut roses–but most people believe it to be a punch bowl and many hockey players have drunk from it. The Women’s Wimbledon Champion receives the elaborate Venus Rosewater Dish. The plate would have been used as a basin to catch rosewater that was poured to wash the hands. In the middle of the dish, the figure of Temperance is engraved. Even with all her virtues, Temperance holds a jug in her hand.
Drinking and drinking vessels have come to feature prominently in modern athletics. The sports drink market itself is a multi-billion dollar ordeal, home to some of the world’s most recognizable brands. The commercialization of college bowl games is one example of how modern sports have come to enshrine these trophies and their winners. When we look around, we can see sundry cups, jugs, bowls, and mugs raised above the heads of champions. The origins of the tradition may be based in the skill sets of silversmiths, or maybe the best award for sweaty athletes is a cup with which they can quench their thirst.
“America’s Cup History to Be Added to the ‘Auld Mug’.” 36th America’s Cup Presented by PRADA, https://www.americascup.com/en/news/24_AMERICA-S-CUP-HISTORY-TO-BE-ADDED-TO-THE-AULD-MUG-.
“Pokal.” DFB, https://www.dfb.de/en/dfb-pokal/.
English, James F. The economy of prestige: Prizes, awards, and the circulation of cultural value. Harvard University Press, 2005.
“GOLF.” Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle, no. 2,768, 19 July 1873, p. 5. Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals, link.gale.com/apps/doc/DX1900293440/NCUK?u=balt85423&sid=bookmark-NCUK&xid=228d67ab. Accessed 14 July 2022.
Golf Channel Digital July 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM, et al. “2022 British Open: History of the Claret Jug, Golf’s Oldest Prize.” Golf Channel, https://www.golfchannel.com/news/british-open-history-claret-jug-golfs-oldest-prize.
“History of the America’s Cup.” 37th America’s Cup, https://www.americascup.com/en/history.
“Mackay, Cunningham, & Co., Edinburgh, Active circa 1824 – 1912: Gothic Style Silver Beaker.” Sothebys.com, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/seeger-cone-collection-l18320/lot.110.html.
Perthshire Agricultural Association.” Caledonian Mercury, 3 Dec. 1836. British Library Newspapers, link.gale.com/apps/doc/BB3205423958/BNCN?u=balt85423&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=bf5b38b3. Accessed 14 July 2022.
Potter, Mitch. “Cup Runneth over with Cousins.” Thestar.com, Toronto Star, 24 May 2008, https://www.thestar.com/news/2008/05/24/cup_runneth_over_with_cousins.html.
Paterson, Len. The Auld Mug: The Scots and the America’s Cup. Neil Wilson Publishing, 2012.
Sudwest, 19 June 1914, p. 1. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=image/v2%3A16019342654AD7E3%40WHNPX-16344FCBA8CE0F68%402420303-1632A809D0796458%400-1632A809D0796458%40. Accessed 15 July 2022.
“To-day’s Sporting News.” Edinburgh Evening News, 5 Oct. 1895, p. 3. British Library Newspapers, link.gale.com/apps/doc/ID3235182299/BNCN?u=balt85423&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=22d3819a. Accessed 14 July 2022.
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